How the Supreme Court claimed supreme power
6/18/202654 min
The Supreme Court's 2025-26 term has been punctuated with some high-stakes cases: birthright citizenship, voting rights, presidential powers and consequential civil rights cases. Some of the most anticipated and significant cases have yet to be decided. As the justices make the final sprint to the end of the term in early July, we take stock of how the Supreme Court evolved from the weakest branch of government to the powerhouse arbiter it is today. This episode originally aired in 2020.
Guests:
Larry Kramer, former dean of Stanford Law School and author of The People Themselves: Popular Constitutionalism and Judicial Review
Rachel Shelden, associate professor of History and director of the George and Ann Richards Civil War Era Center at Penn State University, and author of The Political Supreme Court
Lucas Powe Jr., professor of Law and Government at the University of Texas
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
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Rund Abdelfatah· Host0:18
Hey, it's Rund. As the clock ticks down to the close of the Supreme Court's 2025/2026 term, and we await the justices to hand down nearly two dozen more rulings by early July, the most anticipated of which involve birthright citizenship, the counting of mail-in ballots, the president's power to remove any official, and state bans on female transgender athletes. We thought it would be helpful to share a Throughline episode from our archives that tells the story of the Supreme Court, how it evolved from the weakest branch of government to the powerhouse arbiter it is today.
Rachel Shelden· Guest0:52
[crowd cheering] Here is with a 2-0 pitch. [baseball hit] And this ball's smashed high and deep to center field. It is gone!
Speaker 4· Soundbite1:11
This one is gone. And that ball driven to right. Is it fair? It is a home run.
Rund Abdelfatah· Host1:19
[crowd cheering] When I was growing up, I remember my dad having this strange love of baseball.